Follow me on twitter to see what books and stocks I am reviewing.
My stock reviews are at blog. In the left margin is the book I am currently reviewing.
Email address in Profile. See my website for books reviews.

Friday, March 31, 2017

This book's full title is The Return of History, Conflict, Migration and Geopolitics in the Twenty-First Century. This is another book answering Francis Fukuyams's book entitled The End of History and the Last Man. She basically gives an analysis of our current world and to her it is not pretty.

There are good reviews on Good Reads. A lot loved her book, but there are also some very good critical reviews that are worth reading. Doug Saunders writes a long and interesting review at the The Globe and Mail on this book. There is also a good review by David MacDuff at the Canadian International Council site.

There is aTVO interview of Jennifer Welsh on The Agenda with Steve Paikin. Jennifer Welsh talks about The Return of Inequality in this YouTube clip. She is part of the Massey Lectures and you can hear part or all of them at this site.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

This book's full title is The Upright Thinkers, The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos. This is an absolutely wonderful book. .It is not long and it is in paperback, but one of the best books I have read about humans in a very long time. It is also a book about science.

There are some good reviews on Good Reads . I would give the book 5 stars but few give it that many. However, lots give it a 4 star rating. There are a few reviews at the bottom of this Amazon page. Interestingly there are six and all but one give this book 5 stars. There is an interesting review of this book and Bill Nye's Unstoppable by Rose Eveleth in the New York Times. She is reviewing these books as audio books. She thinks that Leonard Mlodinow reading style is awful. She is not the only reviewer to say this. Others that reviewed his book in audio format did not like his reading either. This last review is also an interesting one by Brian Clegg on Pop Science Books BlogSpot.

There is a short tell us about your book question from Booklandia to the author. There is an hour long talk by Leonard Mlodinow is at Google. There is also a talk by Leonard Mlodinow at Google on his recent book called Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

This book's full title is Tribe, on Homecoming and Belonging. I found the book's writing rather uneven. Some parts are thoughtful and some parts are not.

He has an awful view of current American society. He talks about a society that is that is separating on all sorts of lines, not only racial, but by age, religion and wealth. He talks about Americans having contempt for each other and opening reviling each other. He feels Americans are focused on how different they are from each other rather than on the things that could unite them.

Of course, the above is not all he talks about. The book is mainly about how people come together in bad times to help each other. He talks about people wanting to feel necessary. I agree that there are problems in modern society about people feeling isolated. However, I do not think that needs to happen. People can form their own communities. You can read a blurb about this book on Hachette Book Group. Sebastian Junger has his own web site.

This site of Good Reads has a variety of reviews. Some reviewers agree with Junger and some reviewers are critical of this book and its attitudes. Matthew Crawford in his review talks more about Junger's movies than this book but this is still a good review in the New York Times There is a really good review by Ann Marlowe on Tablet Mag. She takes aim at Junger's praise of tribalism and how it comes in all colors.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

This book's full title is Russian, a 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East. .This is a well-written and very readable book on Russia. The author is a journalist and it shows. I know some of Russian history, especially recent history, so this is why I was attracted to this book. He talks about Russia always having autocratic tendencies and I did understand that.

Whatever the west thinks of Putin, I think that is it quite obvious that most Russians seem to like him. They want to be a great power again and seem to feel that Putin will do this. I think that the jury is still out on that. The book tries to give you an insight as to why the Russians like Putin.

There are, of course, some very good reviews of this book on Good Reads. Mostly they like the book but some complain and reasonably complain that most of the book is on the more recent history. This is probably understandable as the author is a journalist. There is a very interesting review by Mary Dejevsky on the Independent comparing this book the Rodric Braithwaite's book on Afghanistan. There is a short but interesting review on Kirkus Reviews.

This book is presented in many 13 minutes episodes on YouTube. There is an audio tape on You Tube giving a bibliography of Martin Sixsmith. There are some interviews with Martin Sixsmith, but they are very short, less than 3 minutes, with commercials beginning that are almost as long. Most of the interviews are about the film Philomena for which he wrote the story. There is an interesting one on Philomena with Steve Coogan and Martin Sixsmith. In the film Steve Coogan plays Martin Sixsmith. The interview is here. Martin Sixsmith gives a talk at AMBA, Association of MBAs Golden Awards and Gala Dinner in 2017.

About Me

I haven’t had a main stream job since 1999.
To do this was a two prong attack of controlling spending and earning income.
I exercise, then run each day before breakfast. I read in the morning, then I go to Starbucks for coffee. I work on my computer in the afternoon. Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/spbrunner.